machine gun

Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

n. A gun that fires rapidly and repeatedly.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

n. A type of firearm that continuously fires bullets in rapid succession by a single action of the trigger.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English

n. a breech-loading gun or a group of such guns, mounted on a carriage or other holder, and having a reservoir containing cartridges which are loaded into the gun or guns and fired in rapid succession. In earlier models, such as the Gatling gun, the cartridges were loaded by machinery operated by turning a crank. In modern versions the loading of cartidges is accomplished by levers operated by the recoil of the explosion driving the bullet, or by the pressure of gas within the barrel. Several hundred shots can be fired in a minute by such weapons, with accurate aim. The Gatling gun, Gardner gun, Hotchkiss gun, and Nordenfelt gun, named for their inventors, and the French mitrailleuse, are machine guns.

n. See under Gun.

n. A fully automatic rapid-firing rifle, which continues to fire bullets repeatedly as long as the trigger is depressed; lighter versions may be carried in the hands, and heavier versions may be mounted on a tripod, vehicle, or other mount. The lighweight versions are sometimes called a submachine gun.

from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

n. A gun which, by means of a variously contrived mechanism, delivers a continuous fire of projectiles.